When Everything Falls

Chapter Two

The face of the lady who was obviously not Lily's mother became unnaturally serene and she plastered on a fake smile. She walked past Isabella and her parents and they parted for her. Isabella woodenly stepped away, her face crumpled and her eyes averted from Lily's, her parents proudly smirking at Lily.

"How much did you hear, darling?" Lily's not-mother asked, her voice dripping with honey, "And how much will you tell?"

Lily took a step back and scanned the room, Isabella was glancing mournfully between Lily and the lady, but Isabella's parent looked smug, happy to help anyone but Lily.

Lily shivered and asked "Tell who?" She leaned forwards to hear the answer, but received only silence.

A response finally came, "The others, Lily. You aren't the centre of the universe, of course there would be others."

Lily stumbled backwards. There were others? People who needed help, or who could help her? People she could tell? People who could help her?

"Of course, darling," the lady said. "I suppose you won't be telling anyone, so you may as well know my name," she paused "Arachni."

Arachni reached out towards her face and pressed a cold finger to her lips "You shall not speak, shan't tell a soul, of things of which you are yet to know." As Arachni said this, her appearance flickered, one second she looked just like Lily, the next she had light-green eyes, dark-brown hair, and an underfed appearance, "Though time has passed, you shall not tell of how close your soul came to hell. So seal those lips and let me rise, so buoyed I am by my disguise!" Her appearance changed back to how It had been, and Lily only had a second to note that before she collapsed, falling on the arms of Isabella.

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Lily was standing under a huge oak, rubbing her head where she'd hit it, her mother stood over her, fussing.

"Darling," she said loudly "Nod your head if you would like some Panadol."

Lily nodded. It always bothered Lily how loudly her mother spoke to her, she wasn't deaf! Just because she couldn't speak didn't mean she couldn't hear! Only one thing bothered her more today, how her mother was glaring at her when she thought she wasn't looking, and following her around, but hardly speaking to her. Lily could've sworn that she hadn't been doing that yesterday, but she would notice if she tried to write a note for her sister to question her mother's behaviour. Just because Lily was mute and Isabella, 'the perfect daughter' as mother said, was not, was not a good reason for mother and father to pick favorites! Wait, that's not right, she thought, nothing about this was right. Was this really her mother? Yes, she probably hit her head a bit too hard on the way down from that tree. She hated being this suspicious of everyone, whilst Isabella always knew that everything was truthful.

It just wasn't fair.

But today it was worse, because of the Autumn leaves and rainy days, Lily had fallen from the oak tree across the empty field from their house and now her mother wouldn't let her out of her sight! At least then she could write to her sister and ask for answers. Usually she understood how Isabella was the favorite, she was everything Lily wasn't; kind, sweet, obedient, not curious of everything like Lily was and could talk.

As she and her sister were tucked into bed by her mother, she felt her suspicion nagging at her, everyone she passed had glared at her when 'she wasn't looking'. It was normal for people to copy their mother, but this was a little dramatic, so she promised herself she would look into it in the morning, before her sign language classes. But first she slept.

That night she had a strangely familiar dream, where she was falling down a dark hole, in the hole she could neither see nor hear, and of course she couldn't make a sound. When she reached out to touch a wall, she felt a knife skim her finger, and two more straight afterwards. She thought for a minute, then decided that she could climb the knives to get out, if she could slow her fall. When she finally realized how too do this, a longer knife, maybe a sword, cut her in half. Her mother's laugh filled the air.

She woke up, crying silently.

Lily went into the small kitchen of their house, and got herself a biscuit, on the way back to bed, she paused, had she heard voices from the attic? At 1am? She walked towards the door, angling herself so that she could see them and not be seen. Her mother was talking to Isabella and their father, and many others she knew. Lily got out her camera and started recording.

"So now we have to count yesterday as the day she was taken, and we still have a month to go until we can use her to catch her sister," her mother said. "This child is driving me insane! Samantha," she said to their... not mother? Isabella nodded sheepishly "You were so much more docile than her, why could she not be as stupid as all of you!"

Lily's brain was spinning, she picked up a camera, and turned the camera on herself, doing the sign language for "None of this is real, none of these people are people I know, I think we have all been... kidnapped, and there is some kind of deadline in a month for me to escape, and there might be others... maybe help the others. I think most of these people are harmless, and can probably help me, but I need to be careful of-" she stopped, and stumbled back, stepping on a creaky board as the realisation hit her. Her mother. She quickly stopped recording and ran to her room, jumping under the covers, and for the first time in her life, she hoped no-one had heard her.

Her 'mother' snuck into the room, and stood over her bed. "You aren't asleep," she said, poking Lily. "How much did you hear? How much did you see?"

Lily shook her head and sat up, she opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't, of course. At that moment, Isabella ran in, and said "Arachni, I-" but when she saw Lily awake, she froze, her face contorting in horror, a single tear blurring her eye.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her" said...Arachni? The woman began to speak, and as she spoke, her appearance changed, one second, she had red hair, brown eyes, and a button nose, the next she had light-green eyes, dark-brown hair and looked underfed. "You shall not hear, nor tell a soul, of things which you have yet to know, as time does pass, you shall not hear, of secrets that we all keep here. So block those ears, and let me rise, so buoyed I am by my disguise!"

Her appearance changed back to the way it had been, and Lily collapsed into the arms of Isabella.